NBA icon Shareef Abdur-Rahim has no doubt that G League Ignite will not be forgotten – even though the program only lasted four years.
This is because, in such a short time, it has produced NBA All-Star caliber players who will ensure that the Ignite legacy continues to live on, highlights the president of the G League.
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Scott Henderson. Jalen Verde. Jonathan Kuminga. Dyson Daniels.
These are just a few names that will forever be associated with the NBA G League development team, which folded at the end of the 2032-24 season.
“You’re going to keep hearing ‘former G League player Ignite’ as they continue to grow and develop, and have good seasons and good careers,” Abdur-Rahim, 47, told The US Sun during the NBA playoffs.
“This will continue the legacy.”
Launched in 2020, Ignite provided potential players with the opportunity to turn pro without complying with the NBA’s infamous rule.
The program allowed them to learn what it takes to be a professional athlete right out of high school while playing against veteran players on NBA teams’ G League affiliates.
“At this professional level, I learned how to be a professional on and off the court,” Henderson said days before the Portland Trail Blazers drafted him third overall last year.
“I discovered different things to do while I’m not on the court.
“There are only so many hours you can train in a day and only so many hours to mentally prepare for the day.”
At the same time, Ignite paid its players a significant amount of money.
Henderson signed a two-year, $1 million contract in 2021, making him the youngest professional basketball player to earn seven figures in the United States.
But the sporting landscape has changed drastically since then.
Most notably, the change to the NCAA’s name, image and likeness (NIL) rules, implemented in 2021, opened the door for student-athletes to become business-savvy millionaires in the blink of an eye.
As a result, the Ignite program quickly became redundant.
We started Ignite because kids needed a place.
Shareef Abdur-Rahim
“The landscape isn’t even recognizable from when we started. It’s just a whole different world,” Abdur-Rahim said.
“We started Ignite because kids needed a place.
“Young people who wanted to play or have a career, start their professional career – they needed a place.
“And now, with NIL and all those… you have this.”
However, Abdur-Rahim is proud of what Ignite has accomplished.
“No league, no one had done anything like this before,” said the former No. 3 overall selection and former All-Star.
In addition to changes to NIL legislation, it no longer made sense for the Ignite to compete with major college basketball programs, Commissioner Adam Silver said before Game 1 of the NBA Finals.
Particularly, he continued, as many of them often offer better facilities than the G League team – as well as charter flights and high-quality training.
Silver added that the league is in the process of reevaluating the role it plays at the junior level.
The commissioner used the example of Dallas Mavericks star Luka Doncic – who already competed at a high level in Europe at age 13 – to show that the US development system can still be improved.
“Removing Team Ignite was just the beginning,” said Silver.
“We’re really focused on what our role should be in youth basketball in the United States and around the world, for that matter.”
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This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
